We must normalize the awareness of the realities of mental illness, especially within the church. We must remove the negative stigmas surrounding therapy and counseling. One of the most common and most hurtful phrases I heard in my journey with mental illness was...
A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success.
Every night, reflect on how you have contributed to the good of the world, to the good of another. Try and discern how at any point, you gave a word of encouragement, helped someone find their way, opened up a space for someone to understand, to accept, to love....
To forgive is extraordinary. And divine. And uncommon--and not instinctive. In fact, forgiveness runs precisely counter to our instincts. It tugs us beyond the place where we would want to declare our pain, nurse our hurts and invoke sympathy. It encourages us to give...
What is the purpose of a choir? It's not to perform difficult music before a silent and intimidated (or irritated) congregation. It's not there to impress the faithful. It's there to encourage the faithful to find their voices to praise God in his holiness. It is...
So what, then, does Christianity have to offer in the midst of hardships and heartache? The answer, I think, is consolation, including the consolation that comes from being part of a Christian community--people who walk alongside us as we journey through grief,...
Few things are more inspiring than to see a person standing in someone’s winter, helping them believe in a better springtime to come… from Christianity Crocus-Style
Wisdom will be needed to encourage a congregation to be united over the music it uses. One result of the power of music is that people become deeply wedded to their personal preferences and find it difficult to recognize that the style of music is almost always a...
In the modern evangelical church, singing, praying, giving, and other congregational acts of worship are regarded at times as preamble to the sermon. Music, in particular, appears separate from elements of worship that seem to be more spiritual, such as praying and...
Paul actually expects Christ to be encountered as his people share with one another a whole range of verbal ministries in the congregational. For example, as they “sing psalms, hymns and spiritual song,” with gratitude in their hearts to God, they will fulfill the...